Study on Optimization of Wheel Profiles on Heavy Haul Freight Car

Improvement is made to the wheel profile optimization method put forward recently based on the normal gap between the wheel and the rail.The calculation scope of the wheel/rail gap is computed based on the theory of three-dimensional elastic bodies rolling contact with non-Hertzian,so the wheel/rail gap calculated with this method is of practical significance.As the circular wear of wheel treads of heavy haul freight cars is serious,the improved method is used to optimize the wheel profile of heavy haul freight cars.The theories of vehicle and track coupling dynamics and three-dimensional elastic bodies rolling contact with non-Hertzian are used to analyze the contact behavior of the optimized profile in both static and dynamic state.The results show that the optimized profile is in good conformal contact with CHN60 rail,which reduces wheel/rail contact stress and rolling contact fatigue.When reasonable weights are selected in optimizing,the contact stresses between the wheel and the rail will be reduced significantly when the vehicle runs in tangent track and in curved track,so the wear of wheel and rail will be decreased effectively.